Bradley Partner Mike Pennington Quoted in Law360 on Fallout of Yahoo Data Breach

Bradley attorney Mike Pennington was quoted in Law360 on the fallout from Yahoo’s recent announcement of a massive data breach. Less than 24 hours after Yahoo made the disclosure that names, hashed passwords and other account data tied to at least 500 million users had been stolen from its network in late 2014, consumers lodged several class actions across the country alleging the tech giant had violated federal and state consumer protection and privacy laws by failing to keep their information secure. Pennington noted, however, that while consumers may claim they were harmed, proving they actually suffered an injury sufficient to establish Article III standing may not be quite as easy.

“I think it's even harder to prove damages here than in a payment card breach, because in that scenario, at least you have the ability to identify fraudulent transactions on payment cards that can be tied to the date of the breach,” Pennington said. Asserting damages on a class-wide basis when there are 500 million users involved further complicates the calculus for plaintiffs, Pennington explained.

The complete article, “Yahoo Breach Fallout Draws Verizon Buyout Concerns,” appeared in Law360 on September 23, 2016. (login required)